"LISTS: TO-DOS, ILLUSTRATED INVENTORIES, COLLECTED THOUGHTS, AND OTHER ARTISTS' ENUMERATIONS FROM THE SMITHSONIAN'S ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART" | RISD Museum | March 15–June 16 | An intimate look at the art world via its ephemera — Pablo Picasso's recommendations for artists to be included in the landmark 1913 Armory Show, Alexander Calder's address book, and a letter sent to the Museum of Modern Art in 1969 demanding artists' rights. | 224 Benefit St, Providence | 401.454.6500 | risdmuseum.org

DANIEL HEYMAN: "I AM SORRY IT IS DIFFICULT TO START" and WAFAA BILAL: "THE ASHES SERIES" | David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University | April 3–May 26 | A retrospective look at our Iraq war. Heyman, a RISD teacher, paints portraits of Iraqis imprisoned by Americans at Abu Ghraib along with their accounts of harassment and torture. Bilal, an Iraqi living in the US, takes media images from the war and reconstructs them as models of the ruins. | 64 College St, Providence | 401.863.2932 | brown.edu/campus-life/arts/bell-gallery